The duty of my assigned blog this week is to explain the results and consequences of the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991). I would first like to very briefly touch upon the history of this war of many names (also Desert Storm, First Persian Gulf War, and The Mother of All Battles).In 1990, Iraq invaded the country of Kuwait. Because of this, they had control of 20% of not only Kuwait land, but most importantly, Kuwait oil. Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq at the time, reportedly did this to pay back the money he owed Iran, stemming from the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988.The United Nations, in 1991, ordered Iraq to pull out of Kuwait, yet they refused. This resulted in a 35 nation coalition moving in and bombing the Iraqi troops in Kuwait. The forces eventually moved to invading Kuwait and Southern Iraq, forcing Iraqi troops out of the country. A cease fire was eventually ordered by President Bush, ending the debacle.
Now in truth, this was a short war that may, to many, seem unimportant or insignificant. Yet, this war had consequences like any other war. This war had expenses and results that I plan to shed light upon in the following article.Firstly, in the Gulf War, though the coalition of nations was comprised of more than 30 countries, the main contributors to it were The United States, Saudi Arabia, The United Kingdom, and Egypt. The war, though not as costly as our current war in Iraq, still required a significant amount of money. It is estimated at $60 billion US, 40 billion of which was paid for solely by Saudi Arabia.
This war, though one of the shortest, had many consequences and even other conflicts that stemmed from it. One main result that I feel is of importance is the large number of Iraqi and Kuwait casualties and the damage to the structures of Kuwait and Iraq. This means that not only the troops or officials that ordered the invasion on Kuwait were harmed, this means the innocents, the people of Kuwait were also harmed. To me, its the people who have done nothing, who have hurt no one, that get hurt themselves, that makes war so horrible.Another key point, I think, was that this war was really the starting point for the Iraq war we are now fighting. This conflict with Kuwait suppressed the uprising against Saddam Hussein,forcing us to take him out of power years later. It also had a hand in establishing the United States military presence in Saudi Arabia.Personally, I think this war was a result of greed and human flaw. Without it's destruction and waste on the UN's resources, I think the world today would be a better place. In truth, thats sounds extremely cheesy, but maybe the war in Iraq now, wouldn't have been so explosive without the Gulf War to fuel it. Or maybe it would be excactly as it is now, but at the very least, lives would have been saved.
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